I see what you mean by the cliff hangers, but it's pretty obvious Theon, Sansa, Stannis, and Jon Snow are all coming back next season. One thing this show isn't afraid of is killing main characters and making sure you see them die. Them cutting away from the deaths of the first 3 makes me believe they're alive and well.the foreshadowing is too heavy for Jon Snow to be gone, he ll be back
people complaining about the pacing, but i thought it was very on point for the Arya/Cersei scenes. The others may have been rushed but
I didnt like all the cliffhangers ... we have Stannis, Ayra going blind, Theon/Sansa, Jon Snow - sorry thats a bit too much, they should have made the endings of Stannis & Theon/Sansa more direct, I dont get the point of having to carry over those storylines with any ambiguity
With Jon, like you said, there's a ton a foreshadowing showing that he's going to come back. I noticed how they sort of made you notice the blood coming from his body as he lay there and the red witch does blood magic.